The award-winning heritage line based at Dereham station welcomed three of Britain’s mainline steam locomotives from the West Coast Railways stable, which were making their debuts on the Dereham to Wymondham line.

“We’ve run the longest trains we’ve ever had here and had the most people we’ve ever had here, so it’s records all round for us.

“These trains have never run on a heritage line before and people have appreciated what an incredibly rare thing this is.”

In December, the Mid-Norfolk was awarded Heritage Railway of the Year, and it has just received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award for consistently achieving outstanding traveller reviews on the TripAdvisor website.

Mr Steward said: “It’s great to have this interest in the Mid-Norfolk Railway and we hope this could lead to record crowds again at the summer steam gala weekend at the end of June.”